No Mercy
by IvoryPhoenix19
Summary: "So… what would you do if you fought your father, and he begged for mercy?" She pressed. "That's easy. I'd show him no mercy. He could burn and rot in hell for all I care."


"Hey, Aang. Zuko. How was training?" Sokka asked as the fire and air benders wearily walked into the cave after a long day of practicing fire bending techniques. Aang yawned, and stretched before sitting down next to Katara, who handed him a bowl of soup.

"It was good, but, well, tiring." Aang said, slurping up his soup hungrily. Katara scowled and angrily spun to face the fire bender behind her. He was leaning on the edge of the cave wall, arms crossed, and head tilted in concentration as he contemplated the wall opposite of him.

"What's your problem?" She demanded. Zuko looked up from his musings, surprise marring his face.

"What? What do you—"

"Why do you work Aang so hard? Are you trying to kill him, or something? Or are you just trying to make him so weak and tired that your _father_ will kill him easily?" She snipped, balling her fists at her side. The GAang looked up in surprise and worry.

"Calm down, Katara, I'm sure that Zuko isn't intentionally trying to hurt Aang; remember, he's on our side." Sokka said soothingly. Toph snorted from her roost on a perch of rock attached to the wall.

"Geez, Sugar Queen, calm your prissy little head. How many times have you tried to accuse Zuko of killing Aang? I mean, Aang's always been plenty tired when I teach him, but you never accuse me of trying to off him." She called out to the water bender.

"But, he's a _fire bender_; have you already forgotten about his whole "I'll kill you all and take the avatar to my father to regain my honor?" Katara snarled, angry at Sokka and Toph for not taking a stand against the fire bender.

"It's ok, Katara, I'm not that tired." Aang said quietly, but the water bender was beyond listening to anyone.

"No, it's not ok; have all of you forgotten? Don't you realize he's trying to trick you? How can you just look past all his previous attempts to kill us all? What about that time when he helped get you _killed_? Huh, Aang? And before that, what about his little act about how his mother was dead and how he had changed for the good? What about that?" She shouted, throwing an accusing finger at the fire bender in question.

"Katara, just calm down. I'm sure Zuko has a reason for working Aang this hard." Sokka said quickly, hoping to keep peace. As much as he trusted the fire bender, with Katara always nipping at his heels, Zuko had to be on edge, just waiting for that one push to send him into a temper. Besides, Zuko was always volatile, and recently he had been rather pensive and quiet, so his pent up anger had to find some outlet, right? Sokka just hoped that Katara wouldn't be the outlet that Zuko chose to let loose on.

"Well, then tell us your reason, _fire bender_, and it'd better be good." Katara snapped at said fire bender.

Zuko uncrossed his arms and turned so that he was looking outside of the cave, his back to the cave and its occupants.

"Aang will face my father soon enough. He has to be strong enough to fight on par with a master fire bender. Not even I could possibly even think to beat my father, so Aang needs to be able to defeat me in any battle, and in any circumstance to even think to pose a threat to my father. In order for him to achieve this in the time we have, he'll need a lot of training." He said quietly. Katara clenched her fists.

"So Aang's power is weak, huh? So he's not even strong enough to go against you? How can you just throw that out so casually? Aang has water bending, earth bending, and air bending to rely on. Who cares if he isn't that good in fire bending?" She gritted out angrily.

"I bet you're just exaggerating; you're just obsessed with your father. It was always about regaining your honor from your father in the beginning, and now it's about become powerful enough to defeat your father, a seemingly unstoppable force. You're just blinded by your faith in your father that you—"

Katara's rant was cut off when Zuko whirled around. A snarl was painted on his face, his golden eyes crackling with fire. Sokka, Aang, and Toph stiffened.

"Shut up, Katara." Zuko growled. The water bender girl, for once, listened to the irate fire bender, and shut her mouth.

"Don't think that you can judge me on things you don't even know about. You don't understand anything about me; you judge me on the things that you've seen me do in the past, and can't get yourself to look at me in the present. All you can see is the me that you saw chase you and your friends across the world. But what you can't see is the me before that, or the me afterwards. If you're going to narrow your views and expect me to go rabid and yell about my honor every time I see the avatar, then fine, but _don't _bring up your views in a way that's derogatory to me. I've done you no wrong since I've gone to your side, and even you have to admit that I've managed to teach Aang fire bending without burning him to a crisp. So shut up about your stupid views, and just let go of the past!" Zuko yelled.

Katara gaped at him. How dare he. How dare he yell at her. How dare he say that she was clinging to the 'past him.' She was most definantly not; Zuko hadn't changed a bit, and was merely biding his time in order to swoop in and snatch Aang.

"Then how do you feel about your father?" She demanded, clutching for evidence against Zuko. He scowled, and crossed his arms.

"I hate him." He said coldly. She stared at him hard, searching for any sign that he was lying. When she found none, she continued in her ruthless interrogation.

So… what would you do if you fought your father, and he begged for mercy?" She pressed.

"That's easy. I'd show him no mercy. He could burn and rot in hell for all I care." Zuko threw back at her with an equally ruthless tone of voice. Sokka frowned.

"Ok, look, I know that you switched to our side, and all that, but… to really not care about your father that much? How bad could he be?" He asked, thinking of his own deceased mother.

Zuko was silent for a moment, before sighing, and walking to the fire, and sitting down.

"Let me tell you a story. There was once a young boy who—"

"Hang on; what does this have to do with anything? If you're trying to lead us on with a stupid story about a random kid, then—"

"Katara, please. Just let Zuko tell the story; there's got to be a reason for it."

Katara huffed, but she shut her mouth and glared at the floor. Zuko, who had fallen silent, began telling his story again.

"There was once a young boy who lived in the fire nation. He was 13 years old, and naïve in the ways of the world. He was going to be an important person in the future, so he wanted to know everything there was to know about the world since he wanted to lead his people to greater heights in the world. Because of his ambition, he demanded to go to a war council meeting, wishing to know about military tactics in order to protect his people. His uncle allowed him entry, but told him to be silent and not speak out.

He agreed, and listened as a general outlined a diversionary tactic by sending in a group of new recruits in as decoys. The boy disagreed with this tactic as it would be sending the recruits to their death just so that they could try to attack the other nations. He spoke out about it, and the ozai, the firelord, was angry with him. By speaking out, he had dishonored the war council, and was therefore commanded to do agni kai."

Zuko's voice shook as he said the dreaded 2 words. Aang frowned.

"Agni kai? What's that?" He asked. Zuko was quiet for a moment.

"Agni kai is a fire duel. A duel to death." He said. Katara gasped.

"But that's so horrible! Sentencing a 13 year old boy to a duel to death against a war general just because he spoke out about a military tactic that was about to send people to their deaths is so wrong!" She exclaimed. Zuko laughed coldly.

"That's where you're wrong." He said softly. Katara frowned.

"What do you mean? Don't tell me; you agree that the boy should duel in the agni kai and save his stupid pride right?" She retorted. Zuko lowered his head.

"No. What I meant was that the boy wasn't going to fight against a war general." Toph tilted her head.

"Then who was he going to fight?" She asked curiously.

"When the boy turned around to face his opponent, he discovered the person he was to fight was… the firelord. By dishonoring the war council's decision in the firelord's council room, he was indirectly dishonoring the firelord as well, so it was the firelord that he was to fight." Zuko said quietly. Sokka blinked.

"Oh… well, there isn't much difference, right? I mean, the war general may be weaker than the firelord, but the boy would lose either way, right?" He asked. Zuko shook his head.

"That may be, but… you see, I told you that the boy was going to be an important person. That's because, he was the son of the firelord." He said solemnly.

Aang's eyes widened.

"So… then…"

"Yeah. He was supposed to face his father in a fight to death." Zuko sat quietly for a minute, before standing up.

"Hey, sit back down; the story isn't over!" Toph exclaimed as Zuko started walking away. He paused.

"I think it is. You already know the end of the story, don't you?" He asked quietly.

"Well, yeah, but you have to tell us so that we can be sure." Katara quipped. The fire bender turned.

"Tell me, Katara, what do you think happened to the boy?" He questioned. Katara blinked.

"Well… he fought, right? Since all you fire benders think about is honor, so he fought against his father to get his honor, and his father killed him, right?" She said. Zuko tilted his head in contemplation. Then, he sighed, and sat back down.

"You're wrong. When the boy turned around, and saw he father, he realized that he could not take on his father, and begged for forgiveness. His father saw it as a sign of weakness, and struck him down." Zuko paused again.

"The boy lived, but he was forever marked by his father. His father banished and exiled him for being so weak, and gave him a sign to remember his lapse of strength."

"Well, what was the mark?" Aang asked curiously, leaning towards the silent fire bender. Zuko lifted his head, and tapped a finger against the scar against his left eye.

"He burned his son on the left side of his face, and told him that if he could find and bring back the avatar, then his honor and pride would be regained. Not only that, but his banishment would be lifted, and he would be accepted by his father, who had always favored his younger sister over the boy." Zuko said emotionlessly, before standing up abruptly, and walking out of the cave, leaving behind the stunned GAang.

Sokka inhaled and exhaled heavily.

"So… the story. It was about…"

"Zuko." Aang confirmed. Toph, tucked her feet under her legs and leaned forwards.

"So Zuko has a scar on his face? Huh, no wonder he got all touchy when I talked to him about looks and whatnot."

The three turned to Katara for her input. She thinned her lips, and crossed her arms, refusing to look at the other people in the cave.

"The water's getting low. Aang, can you go out and get some more?" She asked coolly. Aang blinked, but sighed, and walked to the water bucket.

"I'll be back soon." He said before walking out of the cave.

~o~

"Zuko." The fire bender turned from his seat on the ground. Aang stood, holding an empty bucket.

"I understand that you really hate your father for what he's done to you. And that's horrifying, it really is. But I still don't understand how you can just let him burn if he begged for mercy when you yourself have been in that exact position." The air bender sat down next to Zuko, and they both stared at the moon.

"It's not just that. I know the pain of being burned down. But I'm not bitter over that. It's just that my father has always favored my younger sister over me. "You were lucky to be alive," is what he'd always say to me at times. The reason I went after you after getting that burn was because all I wanted was for him to acknowledge my prowess in fire bending; for him to accept me for me, and not just cast me away because my sister was better than me. The reason I'd let him burn is because he would do the same to me.

My father is a cruel man; there is no goodness to him. Once he has deemed you unworthy, you will always be that way, no matter what. Even if I gave my father mercy, the moment I turned my back, I'd be stabbed and killed. My father is not like me. He's always been favored, always been in power. And power is all that he wants. If something threatens that, then they are to be killed. Unlike me, there is no reason for my father to be bitter or twisted; he made himself into what he was, and the reason was for power. I can't forgive him, nor can I look past him. I know my father, and I've heard of his deeds.

Aang. You must kill him; just letting him go with a warning won't stop him."

The avatar sighed, and looked sadly at the moon.

"I know, Zuko."

And yet another weight was placed on his shoulders.


End file.
